US will work with India to craft the G20 communique: Yellen

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that the US will work with India on crafting the G20 communique.

"I understand that it is challenging to craft such language but I know the negotiators are discussing it and working hard to do so and we stand ready certainly to work with India to try to draft a communique that successfully addresses this concern," she said on Friday ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit in the capital on September 9 and 10.

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi this evening and will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Yellen expressed satisfaction at the work of the G20 inspite of problems arising due to the Russian war against Ukraine and Russia's absence from the G20 and said that under India's presidency, the goals of the US have closely coincided with those of India.

"...I think we have had considerable success in changing the way the entire multilateral development system is operating, increasing its mission to take on a variety of global challenges, ranging from better preparedness for future pandemics, where we have established a new finance and health ministers Task Force, a fund, a pandemic fund at the World Bank, as well as climate change, taking on global challenges along with poverty reduction," she said.

She also highlighted that substantial progress in changing not only the mission, but also improving the financial resources of the multilateral development banks to perform their critical missions and changing the incentives and structures under which they operate.

India's leadership has also proved effective addressing international debt and providing relief to countries that are over-indebted, she said.

" I do see the G20 as a very effective forum. We appreciate India's leadership, we look forward ourselves to hosting the G20 in 2026, and even without Russia’s active participation and the tensions the war has created, I still see the G20 is highly effective, " Yellen said.

On the way ahead to implement the reforms, she said the US will work with G20 partners to enhance the financial capacity of the World Bank and the MDB system more generally.  Additionally, the US is also looking forward to discussing the possibility of putting in place other capital adequacy framework recommendations, like adding callable capital that could further increase the resources. 

Global growth:

On a question on slower global growth and elevated interest rates, Yellen noted that the US is aware of the risks to global growth. The most important negative influence is Russia's war on Ukraine, which has escalated energy and food prices, she said, adding that many at G20 meetings have stated repeatedly that the most important thing we could do for global growth is for Russia to end its brutal war on Ukraine.

She however expressed surprise at " the strength of global growth and how resilient the global economy has proven to be".

"And whilst there are risks and some countries that have been certainly affected, overall, the global economy has been resilient and as you know, the United States has done particularly well," she said.